The authors examined whether low-income mothers, who have a regular source of dental care (RSDC), rate the dental health of their young children higher than mothers without a RSDC.

From a population of 108,151 children enrolled in Medicaid aged 3 to 6 and their low-income mothers in Washington state, a disproportionate stratified random sample of 11,305 children aged 3 to 6 was selected from enrollment records in four racial/ethnic groups: 3,791 Black; 2,806 Hispanic 1,902 White; and 2,806 other racial/ethnic groups. A mixed-mode survey was conducted to measure mother RSDC and mother ratings of child’s dental health and pain. The unadjusted response rate was 44%, yielding the following eligible mothers: 816 Black, 1,309 Hispanic, 1,379 White, 237 Asian, and 133 American Indian. Separate regression models for Black, Hispanic and White mothers estimated associations between the mothers having a RSDC and ratings of child dental health.

Across racial/ethnic groups, mothers with a RSDC consistently rated their children’s dental health 0.15 higher on a 1-to-5 scale (where 1 means ‘poor’ and 5 means ‘excellent’) than mothers without a RSDC, controlling for child and mother characteristics and the mothers’ propensity to have a RSDC. This difference can be interpreted as a net movement of one level up the scale by 15% of the population.

Across racial/ethnic groups, low-income mothers who have a regular source of dental care rate the dental health of their young children higher than mothers without a RSDC.